


Steel Rings and War-Torn Hearts

by grilledcheesy



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Angst, Canon Era, M/M, Race gets drafted, Spot gives Race a paper clip ring for every year they’re together, Spot speaks like two words in Irish, WW1, battle of the somme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 19:47:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19730563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grilledcheesy/pseuds/grilledcheesy
Summary: Race and Spot become a couple so Spot gives him a paper clip ring for every year they’re together. Race goes off to fight in WW1.





	Steel Rings and War-Torn Hearts

1899  
“Go, go, go, yeah! Hell yeah!” Race jumped up and down as his horse ran past the finish line. He was on a roll today! The strike had ended and all his horses were winning, the day couldn’t get any better.

“Your bets are going well?” Race turned to see who had spoken, even though he already knew the voice well.

“Hey Spot! What are you doing here?” Race’s mind started slowing down as thinking because a struggle. He and Spot were sort of together since the strike, but Race wasn’t positive. I mean, they had kissed and confessed their love for each other, but did Spot mean that in a friendly way or a romantic way? Certainly friendly love was a thing, wasn’t it?

“Just came to see my favorite Manhattan newsie, what else?” Spot smiled and threw an arm around Race’s shoulder, which was quite a feat, considering their height difference.

Spot pulled Race down into a chaste kiss that was suddenly deepened by Race. He knew it was risky, he could get pulverized very quickly for doing much less. But it didn’t matter to him, he was madly in love with Spot and he was 99% certain Spot felt the same way. Friends can kiss on the lips, right?

“Woah, what’s that about? You really excited to see me?” Spot asked jokingly.

“I guess so, I just really missed you.” Race replied sheepishly. “Plus I wasn’t positive if you even felt the same way for me that I feel for you.”

“Well then let it be known that Spot Conlon, King of Brooklyn, is madly in love with Racetrack Higgins of Manhattan.” Race blushed profusely at Spot’s comment. “Hold up a second, I think I have something,” Spot said, reaching into one of his pockets. “Aha! Knew I had one!” Spot held up a paper clip to show Race.

“What’s that for?” Race asked? “Gonna hold some papes together?”

“Watch and learn, mo grá.” Spot started unraveling the paper clip into a straight line before gesturing for Race to give him his hand. Race tenderly held out his left hand as Spot started wrapping the clip around his fourth finger.

“Racetrack Higgins, will you do me the honor of being the one who stays by my side for the rest of my days, through thick and thin, no matter what?” Spot started wrapping faster, Race could see that he was blushing.

“Spot Conlon.” Race grabbed his lover’s hands and held them tight. “I regret that I do not have anything to give you in return, but I swear to you to stay by your side for the rest of my days.” Spot gave Race a tender smile before pulling him into a tight embrace. Their lips connected almost instantly, and fit together as if they were made for the exact purpose of kissing each other.

1916  
“And you won’t pick fights with anyone, even if they deserve it. And you’ll make sure you get enough to eat and stay warm at night and-“ Race cut off Spot’s rant with a kiss. Race had been drafted for the Great War and Spot was determined to be there to see him off. Spot would have been drafted too if he hadn’t caught scarlet fever and been deemed medically unfit.

“I promise you that I will stay as safe as possible and write to you whenever I can,” Race reassured him. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Before you go,” Spot reached into his pocket and held out a paper clip ring. Race slipped a ring off of his finger and added it to the two rings already on a chain around his neck. He held out his hand and Spot replaced the old ring with the new one. That was their tradition: every year they were together Spot gave Race a new paper clip ring and Race added the old one to a chain around his neck.

Race gripped the chain tightly. “I will come back,” he promised. “Don’t worry your pretty head over little old me.” Race smiled and turned towards the boat.  
~~~  
Race was never a very religious person, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He gripped the rings on the chain and prayed. Please let me survive this, I just want to go home and see him. Let me see him.

“Watcha got there?” Race turned around to see one of his fellow soldiers looking at him strangely.

“Oh, these are nothing. Got them from an old friend.” Race blinked away tears as he lied to the other man. To him, those rings were priceless. They reminded him of someone he left in New York; someone he would never forget.

“We’ll get ready, we’re gonna fight soon. They want us to get past the Somme, can you believe it?”

“Yeah, crazy stuff,” Race mumbled. He tucked his chain into his shirt and walked with the other man to their positions in the trench.

Maybe he would go home. He and Spot could live together, and maybe after many decades, Race could finally pass on with a multitude of rings around his neck. But today was not that day.

Race squeezed his rings once more before going over the trench and under the wire.

**Author's Note:**

> Race fights in the Battle of the Somme, which is one of the bloodiest battles in human history with almost 1 million casualties. I’m not gonna say whether or not he survives, I’m gonna leave that up to you guys to decide. I was inspired to do the paper clip rings cause I think they did that in The Hunger Games??? It was some dystopian novel and I was thinking about how I’d want someone to do that for me. I added getting a new ring every year and voila! This fic was born. Thanks for reading!


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